Conventional helmets employ a hard shell casing which envelopes the back, crown and sides of a wearer's head. The majority of these helmets have some type of resilient padding inside to cushion a blow to the helmet. Many types of helmet shapes are known in the art. Some helmets cover the wearer's mouth and chin, while other types of helmets leave this area completely open.
Most helmets employ some type of mechanism for shielding the wearer's eyes from the outside environment. For example, some motorcycle helmets have visors that protect the wearer from wind and rain. These visors are commonly moveable. One method of attaching these visors has been to hinge them on pivot points located on the sides of the helmet. The visor can then pivot vertically to selectively expose or cover the facial area. Alternative methods of attachment include visors which slide vertically on tracks on opposite sides of the eye area of a wearer's face.
Pertinent patents relating to vertically moveable visors are U.S. Pat. No. 4,222,123, dated Sep. 16, 1980 to A. Hellberg and U.S. Pat. No. 4,581,776 dated Apr. 15, 1986 to H. Kie. When a vertically movable visor is raised while riding, the angle at which the lower edge of the visor contacts the wind is changed, thereby changing the wind force impacting directly on the visor. This change in force may add torque to the visor which causes fatigue to the neck muscles.
The Hellberg patent discloses a visor for a helmet that attaches to a pivoting arm attached above each ear of the wearer and extending to a point above each temple of the wearer. The visor is designed to pivot vertically on a hinge, selectively exposing or covering the wearer's face. While in the up position, the wearer's face is exposed and the visor remains exposed to the elements. Only one visor may be installed at a time, thereby requiring the wearer to choose between a tinted or clear visor when the helmet is first put on. No mechanism is provided to change the tint of the visor while wearing the helmet and no lateral movement of the visor is disclosed.
In the Kie patent, a visor is disclosed that slides vertically on tracks attached at each earguard of the helmet. The visor can be moved only in the vertical plane. A set of tracks is installed surrounding the wearer's earguards. When the visor is being raised, it moves along these tracks to reach the up position. When the visor is in the up position, the wearer's facial area and the visor are exposed to the elements. Also, because the tracks disclosed surround the ear in semi-circular manner, the visor may only move along the tracks up or down in the vertical plane. No lateral movement can be achieved.
Some types of laterally moveable visor mechanisms have been implemented on helmets and the like with transparent film contained in canisters. These canisters are attached vertically to the exterior of the hard shell casing of the helmet at the side areas of the wearer's field of view. The helmets may be with or without a fixed visor behind the transparent film fed by the canisters. Pertinent patents relating to such mechanisms are U.S. Pat. No. 3,946,442, dated Mar. 30, 1976 to B. O. H. Wallander, U.S. Pat. No. 4,748,697, dated Jun. 7, 1988 to J. L. Hodnett and U.S. Pat. No. 5,163,185 dated Nov. 17, 1992 to J. L. Hodnett. These patents are all directed to devices embodying a transparent film located on the external surface of the helmet device, which can be placed over a permanent visor. None of the prior art allows lateral storage of visors in the side and rear areas of the helmet, or permits the wearer to selectively choose between a tinted or clear visor stored in the helmet.
The Wallander patent discloses a helmet in which a film may be slid across a curved transparent plate. Attached to each side edge of the helmet adjacent the earguards are mounted canisters for holding the film. One canister is a supply roll and the other is a take up roll. When the film covering the transparent plate receives sight restricting deposits the user actuates the driven take-up roll to draw the dirty film section out of the field of sight and introduce a fresh film section into the field of sight. There is no provision for the film to move both forward and backward. Also, this invention does not allow movement of the curved transparent plate, and thus does not allow either exposing the wearer's facial area or rapidly changing to a tinted visor.
The Hodnett patents disclose a face mask having a supply roll of transparent, flexible film that can be unrolled along a track extending across the mask. The supply roll is enclosed in a canister attached to the side of the mask, adjacent to the wearer's temple. If the film portion extending across the mask becomes dirty or scratched, the wearer can grip the end of the film and unroll additional film to replace the dirty or scratched portion. The wearer then tears the dirty or scratched portion off and discards it. There is no provision disclosed allowing movement of the film in either direction. The Hodnett '185 patent discloses the additional feature of inserting a tinted window behind the transparent film across the mask. The tinted window cannot, however, be slid between this position and a retracted position, rather it can only be inserted or removed.
While these implementations disclose lateral movement of film across the visor area, none of the prior art discloses an implementation of a laterally moveable visor.
Helmet wearers are currently unable to change visors quickly or to switch between a clear visor, a tinted visor, or an open facial area without changing the wind force acting on the visor. The need also exists to allow a wearer to change visors without exposing the facial area. Many of the visor mechanisms disclosed in the prior art involve complicated gearing mechanisms. For a device such as a helmet, a complicated mechanism may prove to be cost prohibitive. Consequently, what is needed in the art is a simple technique that allows a helmet wearer to choose between multiple visors, providing ready availability of both tinted and clear visors, without exposing the facial area to the outside environment. Also, to ensure a longer life, it would be an improvement in the art to provide an arrangement for protecting the visors from exposure to the elements when not in use.